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Washington, DC - The USMMA men's basketball team dropped a 74-57 decision at #9 Catholic Saturday night in a Landmark Conference match-up. Reed Buck (Lawrenceville, GA) scored a team high 15 points while Zach Karczewski (Austin, TX) led Merchant Marine with nine rebounds. The Mariners are now 1-1 this season against nationally ranked opponents.

Merchant Marine (8-5, 1-3 Landmark) jumped out to a 6-0 advantage off the opening tip as Reed Buck knocked down back-to-back jumpers. However, the Cardinals controlled the middle portion of the first half, using a 16-5 run to build a 35-25 cushion with 6:08 left in the period. Steve Limberiou paced the home team with 17 of his 20 points in the opening 20 minutes of action as the Cardinals took a 44-32 lead into halftime.

#9 Catholic (12-1, 2-0 Landmark) started the second half with five straight points before Preston Padgett (Leavenworth, KS) hit a trey to get the Mariners on the board. USMMA finished the game 6-of-14 from beyond the arc. The Cardinals lead reached 19 points with a Nate Koenig three-pointer to make it 63-44 with 8:01 to play. The Mariners were unable to close the gap down the stretch as Catholic sealed the win, 74-57.

Merchant Marine held a 47-32 rebounding advantage but also committed 20 turnovers compared to just eight for the Cardinals. Freshman Scott Dennin (Gilbertsville, PA) had a solid game inside for USMMA, racking up eight points and eight rebounds.

The Mariners return home Wednesday night for their next game, a 7:00 pm tip-off versus Landmark Conference rival Scranton.